Chinatown mega-market and restaurant in the works

Updated 7:09 am, Thursday, February 27, 2014

Photo: Frederic Larson, SFC

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George Chen

George Chen

Photo: Frederic Larson, SFC

Chinatown mega-market and restaurant in the works

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One of the most common questions people ask about Inside Scoop is how restaurant news and stories surface. The truth is that tips come from a variety of sources, including chefs, public records, anonymous folks, PR flacks and, of course, readers.

But the spark for this week's column is a first: a high school newspaper.

Robert Blatman, a junior at San Francisco's Lick-Wilmerding High School, recently wrote an excellent article about the campaign to rejuvenate Chinatown in his school's paper. In that piece, he mentioned a new project from well-known San Francisco restaurateur George Chen.

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Indeed, Chen is back in the game. The man who opened Chinese heavyweights like Betelnut and Shanghai 1930 has been flying under the Bay Area radar since the latter closed in 2010. But he is now involved in an ambitious new Chinese cuisine complex brewing in the behemoth Broadway space formerly home to Gold Mountain (644 Broadway).

"I've always felt there was a lack of Chinese food presence here. For me, it's been a mission and legacy project to do something," Chen says.

On the ground floor will be a sprawling 20,000-square-foot marketplace named China Live, which Chen envisions as a way to bring fresh, local, farm produce and well-curated food products to Chinatown.

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His goal is to bring together the best local and imported products, be it the finest soy sauce makers from across the Pacific or pristine seasonal vegetables from Northern California - all at prices to serve the neighborhood.

There won't be shelves like a grocery store; rather, Chen likens it to the open, tactile and almost theatrical experience of an Apple Store.

Upstairs, there will be a fine dining restaurant named Eight Tables. As the name indicates, it will be small.

"That's hopefully going to be the French Laundry of Chinese food. We're gunning for big-time recognition, because there's a place for it," he says.

And that's not all. While Chen hopes to open the restaurant and market late this year, he's hoping to add a roof garden with a 360-degree view of the city down the line.

If played right, the big dreams could add up to a huge development. Chen says that San Francisco is ready: "Why shouldn't we have one of the best Chinese food experiences in the United States?"

Holding strong: Raise a glass to Mike and Marcia Walsh, who are retiring and selling the Holding Co. after nearly 40 years of business in 2 Embarcadero Center.

The new owners are four sisters - one of whom also owns the Napper Tandy - who intend to keep everything intact; in fact, the Holding Co. is expected to remain open through the transition.

But it's the end of an era for Mike Walsh, who has lorded over the Financial District classic since it opened in 1974.

Riding coach: Charles Phanrose to prominence with the Slanted Door, revolutionizing Vietnamese food in America by using local and seasonal Bay Area ingredients to reimagine his native cuisine. Last year, he surprised the city by venturing into Southern cuisine with Hard Water, his insta-hotspot on Pier 3 (see Jon Bonné's Bar Bite feature in the 96 Hours section for more).

For his next trick, Phan is branching into yet another new cuisine: British.

Monday, he will open the Coachman in the stylish SoMa space that previously held his Chinese joint, Heaven's Dog (1148 Mission St.), which closed due to flooding in 2012. A remodel by architect Olle Lundberg has expanded the dining room while keeping the long bar largely intact.

The Coachman name is a tip of the proverbial cap to a bygone pub on Powell Street, which was the first place that Phan's father worked after he arrived in America in the 1970s.

The chef will be Ross Wunderlich; John Coddwill run the bar. Erik Adkins, who oversees all of Phan's beverage happenings, has gone deep into British cocktail history to formulate the drinks, dipping into all kinds of old books for inspiration and recipes, from "Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks" (1869) to "Oxford Night Caps" (1871).

Now, the only thing left to see is if the Coachman can avoid puddles. Three of Phan's last six restaurants have experienced floods.

Boomtown: Sure, Mid-Market real estate is getting lots of publicity as the possible land of opportunity for prospective restaurateurs, but the sleeping giant might be the area around the under-construction Transbay Terminal.

Already some are banking on it. Dennis Leary and Eric Passetti- who operate nearby House of Shields, among others elsewhere in the city - are in line to take over the original John Colins Lounge (90 Natoma St.) located in a picturesque old brick building in the Transbay Terminal's prospective shadow. They plan to open a new bar named Natoma Cabana.